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While visiting Czech Republic, we spent two days touring the area around Cesky Krumlov. We like the countryside and off the beaten path locations so we chose to visit two monasteries, two castles and a little preserved village and country drives. We will choose this over a big city any day.

Our first day we went to Zlata Koruna. It is a little village and a monastery by the same name meaning Golden Crown. Originally named for a thorn from Jesus’s crown of thorns. The oldest part is a chapel from 1370. It was a beautiful setting by the river. The tour was not in English but we were given a sheet in English that allowed us to follow along. It was beautiful. It had the most wonderful hallways around the courtyard.

On our way to our next stop, we stopped in a small town grocery store and selected a few goodies and had a picnic lunch in the little town square facing this gorgeous church. We loved having picnics like this.

Entering in and leaving each town they have a religious altar or monument. Some were elaborate with paintings and flowers and some a simple cross. We would look for them and take pictures of our favorites. I know nothing about what these mean or how long they have been here but I liked them and what they meant to me. In Austria late one day we saw a sweet older man lighting the candles in one of these. We watched him. It was very touching service he provided. We made our way to Hluboka nad Vltavou Castle. It was described as a hunting lodge in one article so we were not sure what to expect. It was built in the 13th century but has been updated over the years. The inside was very English style, a lot of wood work, very ornate and many paintings. Again we were giving an English sheet to follow along. The grounds were beautiful. It was a treat to visit.

This is the door knob to the inner court-yard. It is the crow pecking the head of a turk. This became their emblem after they defeated the turks in a war. It also shows up in their crest on their flags.

On another day we went to Hrad Rozmberk. Unfortunately this was on a Monday and we found everything to be closed on Mondays. So we were unable to visit inside but just walked around the grounds. We were toured out anyway so walking around on a beautiful day was fine by us.

The Holasovice Village is a Unesco World Heritage Site. It’s just a small village that has many little South Bohemian folk baroque houses. It was a beautiful day and it’s in the middle of no where so we thought why not!

We loved the country drives. We passed many farms and several with large piles of hay!

And Another!!Our last jewel was the Cistercian Vyssi Brod. It was our favorite yet we almost didn’t go because not much was said about it. How sad. We were charmed! It was opened on Monday and we were welcomed by a sweet man who spoke little English but was happy to have us.

The monastery had many beautiful paintings and a wonderful library. The tour covered much more than was on our little English sheet though so we did grow tired of hearing Czech. But it ended in the cathedral and the organ began to play for us and was a beautiful way to end the tour.

On our way back to Krumlov, we made a wrong turn and came across these cute critters at a private house. Such a lucky mishap!

We loved our time in this South Bohemia Region. It was beautiful, easy to navigate, lovely to explore. Happy to relive it here again.